The Book of Job

Word Study

"triumphing," Hebrew reninat (רְנָנַת), the glad shout, the exultant cry. Zophar states a genuine truth: "the triumphing of the wicked is short." The word is not quiet satisfaction but the loud, ringing shout of victory, the noise a man makes when everything has gone his way. However high the ungodly rise, and however loudly they celebrate it, that shout is what Zophar says will be cut off.

"short," miqqarov (מִקָּרוֹב), of recent/brief duration. Their exultation is brief; it has no long history behind it and no future ahead of it. This agrees with all of Scripture. "For evildoers shall be cut off... For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be" (Psalm 37:9-10); the ungodly "are like the chaff which the wind driveth away" (Psalm 1:4). The wicked may seem to prosper and rejoice, but it does not last; their triumph has no roots.

"the hypocrite," chanef (חָנֵף), the godless, profane, impious man. "And the joy of the hypocrite." The word means more than a play-actor; it names the godless and profane man, the one who has no reverence for God at all. So far Zophar speaks the truth. The problem, again, is that he is using this true principle as a coded accusation of Job, quietly placing him in this class.

"but for a moment," adei-raga (עֲדֵי־רָגַע), only until an instant. Such a man's gladness lasts only a moment, then it is gone; the pleasures of sin are "for a season" (Hebrews 11:25). Zophar implies: Job once triumphed and rejoiced, and now his joy is snuffed out in a moment, therefore Job must be the wicked hypocrite whose brief triumph has ended. But Job's losses were not the collapse of a hypocrite's short-lived joy; they were the testing of a righteous man. The truth that the wicked's triumph is short is real and sobering, but it cannot be turned into a rule that every man whose joy is cut short must be wicked.

Explanation

Zophar states a genuine truth: "the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment." However high the ungodly rise, their gladness is brief and rootless (Psalm 37:9-10; Hebrews 11:25). But he uses this true principle as a veiled accusation: Job once rejoiced and now his joy is snuffed out, so Job must be the hypocrite whose triumph has ended. Yet Job's losses were not a hypocrite's short-lived joy collapsing but a righteous man being tested. The truth is real, but it cannot be made a rule that everyone whose joy is cut short must be wicked.

Gospel Focus

"The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment", set against this fleeting joy is the everlasting joy God gives in Christ. The world's pleasures pass in a moment, but "in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore" (Psalm 16:11). Jesus promised His people a joy nothing can steal: "your joy no man taketh from you" (John 16:22), a joy that remains: "that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full" (John 15:11). Where the sinner's triumph is short, the believer's joy is eternal, rooted not in circumstances but in Christ, so that even in suffering we may "rejoice in the Lord alway" (Philippians 4:4) and count it "all joy" when we fall into trials (James 1:2). Job's own joy seemed cut short "but for a moment", yet the end of his story showed that the joy of the righteous is only interrupted, never destroyed, "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Psalm 30:5). The Gospel offers a joy the world cannot give and cannot take away, the joy of sins forgiven, of a living Redeemer, of an eternal inheritance. Do not envy the brief triumph of the wicked; seek the lasting joy of the Lord, which is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10), and which, in Christ, is "joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8).

Word Study

"wickedness," Hebrew ra'ah (רָעָה), evil. Zophar gives one of the most vivid pictures in the book of the deceptive nature of sin: "Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him" (v12-14). The thing in the sinner's mouth is plain evil; it has not changed its nature by tasting good. Zophar rightly warns of this, though he wrongly assumes Job has been such a secret sinner, gorging on hidden wickedness.

"sweet," tamtiq (תַמְתִּיק), be sweet, pleasant. This is the whole deception in a single word. Sin is pictured as a delicious morsel, but once swallowed it turns to poison in the stomach, "the gall of asps", the venom of serpents. This is a profound and true depiction of how sin works. It promises sweetness and delivers death. "The lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb... but her end is bitter as wormwood" (Proverbs 5:3-4); "bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel" (Proverbs 20:17). Every temptation flatters the appetite and hides the hook.

"hide it under his tongue," yakchidennah tachat leshono, conceal it, savour it secretly like a cherished morsel. The picture is of a man rolling the morsel under his tongue, savouring it, unwilling to let it go, and hiding it there where no one else can see. That secrecy is part of the pleasure, and part of the ruin. The truth is a searching one for every heart: the pleasures of sin, however sweet on the tongue, turn to gall within, and the wise fear the aftertaste more than they crave the morsel.

Explanation

Zophar vividly pictures the deceptive nature of sin: wickedness is "sweet in his mouth", a delicious morsel the sinner rolls under his tongue, savouring it, unwilling to let go, but once swallowed it turns to "the gall of asps" within, poison in the belly. This is a true depiction of how sin works, promising sweetness and delivering death (Proverbs 5:3-4; 20:17). Every temptation flatters the appetite and hides the hook. Zophar wrongly assumes Job is such a secret sinner, but the truth searches every heart: sin's sweetness turns to gall, and the wise fear the aftertaste more than they crave the bite.

Gospel Focus

"Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth... yet his meat in his bowels is turned", sin's fatal sweetness is exactly what the Gospel delivers us from, both its penalty and its power. The good news is not merely that sin turns to poison, but that Christ has swallowed the poison for us and offers a sweetness that never turns bitter. On the cross Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath against sin, "the gall of asps" that we deserved, so that we might drink instead the cup of salvation. And He gives His people a new appetite: "O taste and see that the LORD is good" (Psalm 34:8). The word of God becomes "sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb" (Psalm 19:10), a sweetness that, unlike sin, brings life and not death. The Gospel does not just warn us off the poisoned morsel; it satisfies the deeper hunger sin could never fill: "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger" (John 6:35). The reason we can forsake the sweet-tasting sin is that Christ offers something far sweeter and wholly good, Himself. And His grace also breaks sin's grip, so that we need no longer hide wickedness under the tongue: "sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14). Turn from the morsel that turns to gall, and feast on Christ, in whom is sweetness for evermore and no bitterness at all.

Word Study

"portion," Hebrew cheleq (חֵלֶק), share, allotment, that which is apportioned. Zophar ends his grim speech with a summary verdict: "This is the portion of a wicked man from God." All the ruin he has described, poison, vomiting, wrath, sword, fire, is, he says, the share God has measured out to the wicked. And the clear implication, hanging in the air, is that this is Job's portion. Once more the friends assign Job to the ranks of the doomed.

"heritage," nachalah (נַחֲלָה), inheritance. "And the heritage appointed unto him by God." Now, it is true that there is such an inheritance laid up for the wicked, that God's justice will finally give the ungodly their due. But this is a double-edged word in Scripture, for it also describes the blessed inheritance of the righteous, and there it belongs to God Himself. The very word Zophar uses for the doom of the wicked is the word the saints use for their glory: "The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance" (Psalm 16:5); "the LORD is my portion, saith my soul" (Lamentations 3:24). So there are two portions: the wrath appointed for the wicked, and God Himself as the portion of the righteous. Zophar assigned Job the first; but Job, and every believer, has the second, God Himself as an everlasting inheritance. The question the chapter presses is: which portion is yours?

"appointed," imro (אִמְרוֹ), decreed, spoken. The word carries the sense of something spoken, a decree pronounced. Zophar's point is that this outcome is not accident or ill fortune but God's own settled word about the wicked. He is right that God has spoken such a decree; his error is in presuming to read Job's name into it.

Explanation

Zophar ends with a verdict: all the ruin he described is "the portion of a wicked man from God", the inheritance God has decreed for the ungodly, with the clear implication that this is Job's portion. It is true that a portion of wrath is appointed for the wicked. But the word cheleq, "portion", cuts both ways in Scripture, for it also names the blessed inheritance of the righteous, whose portion is God Himself (Psalm 16:5; Lamentations 3:24). There are two portions: wrath for the wicked, and God Himself for the righteous. Zophar assigned Job the first; but Job's true portion, and every believer's, is the second.

Gospel Focus

"This is the portion of a wicked man from God", there truly is a portion of wrath appointed for sin, and the Gospel is the news that Jesus Christ drank that portion in our place so that we might receive the other portion, God Himself. On the cross, Christ took "the portion of a wicked man from God", the cup of wrath, the sword of justice, the fire of judgment, though He was not wicked but righteous, that we might be spared it. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" (Galatians 3:13). Because He bore our portion of wrath, our portion is now grace and glory: God Himself becomes our inheritance. "The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup" (Psalm 16:5), a psalm fulfilled in Christ's resurrection (Acts 2:25-28), and through Him made ours: we are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17), receiving "an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven" (1 Peter 1:4). So the whole question of Job 20 comes down to this: which portion is yours? Apart from Christ, the portion is the wrath Zophar described. In Christ, who took that wrath for us, the portion is God Himself, forever. Flee the first portion; receive the second by faith in the Lord Jesus, who was made your curse that He might become your inheritance.